


UNIYEHSITY OF MlCniGAN. 



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ON THE 



LIFE AND SERVICES 



m. IIKNHY I'HlLll' TAI'l'AN, J). D., LL. 1> 

President of the University from 1852 to I8ti3 



Delivered in University Hall, by request of the Senate and Alumni, 
at the Meeting of Ihe Association of the Alumni, 

June &S, 1S82. bv 

PKOFESSOR HKiNUY S. MiiEZE, LL. D. 



PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY, 
1882. 






UNIYERSITY OF MICHIGAN. 



A MEMORIAL Discourse 



LIFE AND SERVICES 



REV. HENRY PHILIP TAPPAN, 1). 1)., LL. D. 

President of the University from 1852 to 1863. 



Delivered in University Hall, by request of the Senate and. Alunini, 

at the Meeting of the Association of the Alumni, 

June 28, 1882, by 

PROFESSOR HENRY S. FRIEZE, LL. D. 

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PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY, 

1882. 



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ACTION OF THE UNIVERSITY SENATE. 



At a meeting of the University Senate, held on the 
21st of November, 1881, the death of Ex-President 
Tappan was announced by Acting President Frieze, in 
the following terms : 

GEXTLEMEISr OF THE SeXATE, 

Again it has become my sad and painful duty to call you 
together for the purpose of adopting resolutions of respect for the 
honored dead. 

Scarcely a year ago we followed to their last resting place the 
remains of the lamented Watson. Since then, Ex-Governor Bag- 
ley, Ex-President Haven, and the venerable Professor Williams 
have passed away, one after the other, in quick succession, and the 
death of each of tliem has called forth from this Senate expres- 
sions of profound regret, and the due tribute of praise for pre- 
eminent worth and service. 

But the death record of the year was not yet closed. One more 
name was to be added to the mournful list, a name which must for 
ever stand first among the names illustrious in the history of this 
University. We have received the announcement of the death of 
Henry Philip Tappan, first President of the University of Michi- 
gan. Most impressively does this announcement come upon us, 
after the losses, unprecedented in our history, which we have so 
recently been called to mourn. Most impressively does it remind 
us that this institution is rapidly passing beyond its infancy, and 
that it numbers amongst its friends, its alumni, and its past and 
present officers of instruction, many who are already advanced in 
life, and who are liable at any moment to fall by the wayside. 

We know not yet the nature of the attack which has suddenly 
removed the venerable Ex-President from the scenes of earth. 
Letters received from his family but two weeks ago spoke of him 
as being in his usual vigorous health, and as taking his customary 



walks. Certainly we had reason to think that he had still a strong 
hold upon life, even though several years beyond the ajlotted three 
score years and ten, and that years of tranquil happiness were still 
in store for him in that sweet vale in the heart of Switzerland, 
which he had chosen for his last earthly home. 

But whatever may have been the occasion of his death, his numer- 
ous friends and admirers in this and in foreign lands, and, above 
all, those who were related to him in this University as associates 
or pupils, will find a mournful satisfaction in the reflection that the 
great work of his life was long ago completed, and that it was 
completed here. For, however eminent Dr. Tappan may have been 
as a thinker, as a philosophical writer, as a divine, as a gifted 
teacher, and as an eloquent speaker, there can be no doubt that his 
well-won reputation derived from these various gifts and attain- 
ments will be eclipsed by the greatness of his achievements in 
founding and building up, in organizing and developing the higher 
educational work of the State of Michigan. And this greatness 
will be enhanced by the influence which his work will be found to 
have exercised upon the State universities, and the educational 
systems of all this vast region of the lakes and of the West. 

Filled with the idea of the excellence and completeness of the 
educational systems of some of the European nationalities, and 
seeing no promise or possibility of any such system in our Atlantic 
States, where the higher institutions are entirely isolated, and have 
no root in a system of public primary and secondary schools, he 
came to this State, then in its infancy, and he found here in embryo 
the very system of general and complete organization which he had 
so much longed to see in operation, the counterpart, at least in 
form, of those of the old world, anc^ the only one which, in his 
estimation, possessed the conditions of solid, permanent, and com- 
plete success. With great enthusiasm he entered upon the enter- 
prise of developing the educational possibilities of this system ; 
with glowing eloquence he impressed his great thoughts and high 
hopes upon the educators and the people of the State. His com- 
prehensive views, taking in the interests, not of any one class, not 
of any one j^rofession, not of any one department of study or grade 
of education, but the educational interests of all classes and of the 
entire community, in all branches, grades, and departments, enforced 
with arguments derived from extensive reading, from wide obser- 
vation, and from profound thought, have been impressed so indeli- 
bly upon the University and the educational work of the State, 



D 

that these will never cease to be a clear and legible record of the 
great life work of Henry P. Tappan. There is no doubt that 
his genius, his eloquence, his force and persistence gave an impulse 
to the educational work of the University and of the State which 
will be felt to the latest times. 

And now I invite you, gentlemen, to take such measures as may 
seem to you appropriate for the purpose of showing all due honor 
to the memory of the first President of the University. 

On the conclusion of tlie Acting President's remarks, 
a committee, consisting of Acting President Frieze, and 
Professors A. B. Palmer, C. K. Adams, T. M. Cooley, 
and M. L. D'Ooge, was appointed to draft resolutions^ 
and to make such other arrangements as might seem 
desirable. The repo'rt of this committee was presented 
at an adjourned meeting of the Senate, held on the 28th 
of November. 

The following preamble and resolutions, prepared by 
Judge Cooley, were unanimously adopted by the Senate : 

The members of the University Senate have received with j^ro- 
found sensibility the intelligence of the death of Henry Philip 
Tappan, our former President. Grateful to a kind Providence for 
having spared the life of this eminent man until he was full of 
days, as he was of honors, we deem it fitting, in expressing our 
sense of his loss, to recall with brevity some of the services which 
specially endear his memory to the hearts of those whose affections 
cluster around the University to which he gave the best thought 
and the most earnest labors of his matured years. 

While yet the University was incomplete, even in skeleton struc- 
ture, and before there had been breathed into it the life of popular 
favor, he took up its interests in his strong arms, with a faith that 
saw all its possibilities, and a courage that would not stop short of 
achieving them. 

He brought to us an acquaintance with foreign systems which 
was new to our people, and he was one of the first among eminent 
educators to perceive that the system, of which a sketch already 
appeared in our laws, had been wisely planned, was peculiarly 



6 

iitted to the needs of the State, and, if developed in the light of 
foreign experience, was capable of being made the chief glory of 
the commonwealth. 

He saw better than others did, that in accomplishing this the 
chief need was not stately halls and aspiring chapels, but educated 
and able men ; and he not only called such men about him so far 
as the resources at his command would enable him to do so, but in 
reports, public addresses, and papers, he appealed to the people of 
the State, and to its legislation, to take this imperfect and starving 
institution to their hearts, and give to it the means of completing 
a corps of instruction commensurate with the demands which he 
foresaw must soon be made upon it, and in some degree propor- 
tioned to the resources of the State. 

While appealing for State aid, he did not hesitate in any reform 
because it would for the time encounter popular opposition or pre- 
judice, but moved on with confidence, trusting in the good sense 
of the people for the final approval of his plans. We recall espe- 
cially among these reforms the abolition of college dormitories, 
with their attendant evils. 

Believing most implicitly that the University should not stand 
apart from popular institutions, and from the people, he challenged 
the assistance of the people for it as an integral and necessary part 
of a State educational system, of which the common and high 
schools should also be necessary parts; and much of his attention 
was directed to making it plain that the best interests of the State 
required a system complete and adequate to all the wants of 
instruction, interwoven with the political structure of the State, 
and extending its beneficent and elevating influences to every 
hamlet and every household. 

Compelled to appeal to a people still busy in hewing out for 
themselves dwelling places in the forest, and still heavily burdened 
with public and private debts, it was inevitable that he should often 
be rebuffed, but he was never discouraged; and he had the great 
and proud satisfaction of knowing that from year to year he was 
making his way steadily in the confidence and regard of the 
people, and that the University of his affections was gradually and 
surely becoming also the University of the people. 

His broad catholicity of spirit rejected and spurned the notion 
before prevalent, that appointments to chairs of instruction must 
be made on denominational grounds, and he refused to recognize 



in those who should be invited to share his labors any other tests 
than those of character and fitness. 

Among his pupils he was quick to recognize ability and promise, 
and during an incumbency of the president's chair for eleven years 
he drew to himself the esteem and affection of successive classes, 
and impressed every receptive and vigorous mind among them 
with something of his own strength and power. When he left he 
could justly take satisfaction in the knowledge that his pupils, 
while they respected him as a teacher, loved him also as a com- 
panion and friend, and bore for him such reverence as children 
have for a father at once great in heart, broad in mind, and vigor- 
ous in intellect. 

Cherishing the memory of his great qualities and great services, 
we do hereby resolve: 

1. That this expression of our esteem and regard be entered as 
a perpetual memorial on the records of the Senate, and that a copy 
thereof be published in the papers of the day. 

2. That we most deeply sympathize with the family of the 
deceased in their great and sore affliction, and that the Secretary 
be directed to transmit to them a coj^y of this paper as an imper- 
fect but most sincere expression thereof. 

After the adoption of the foregoing resolutions, the 
Senate requested Acting President Frieze to prepare a 
memorial address in honor of Dr. Tappan, to be delivered 
in connection with the exercises of commencement week 
in June. 

In reply to the communication sent to her by the 
Secretary of the Senate, Mrs. Tappan sent the following 
letter, which, by order of the Senate, has been entered 
in its records : 

Beauval, Vevey, Jan. 5, 1882. 
William H. Pettee, Esq., 

Secretary to tJie Senate of the Uiiiverdty of Michigan. 

My Dear Sir — I hasten to reply to your communication of Dec. 
17th. 

I, Dr. and Mrs. Brunnow, and my grandson, Mr. Brunnow, beg 
you will express to President Frieze and the Senate of the Univer- 



8 

sity our warm thanks and high appreciation of their deep sympa- 
thy with us in our great sorrow, and especially for the resolutions 
which so beautifully express the grateful love and high estimation 
in which they hold the character and services of my dear husband. 

It is a touching tribute to his memory, that an absence of 
eighteen years has not weakened the A^eneration and affection in 
which he was held during the time he presided over the University. 
His love and interest in the University remained undiminished, 
and he ever welcomed his old students and friends with heartfelt 
pleasure, who from time to time found their way to him on this 
side of the Atlantic. 

An institution so dear to his heart, and to which he devoted the 
best years of his life, will ever be dear to us, and we all unite in 
wishing for the University of Michigan a prosperous and noble 
future. 

We also beg you will accept our grateful thanks for jour sym- 
pathy for us, and your own regret for him, who, though person- 
ally unknown to you, still holds a place in your heart. 

Very sincerely yours, 

JULIA L. TAPPAN. 



HE]NTRY PHILIP TAPPAN 



A MEMORIAL ADDRESS 



PROFESSOR H. S. FRIEZE, LL. D. 



He wlio gives direction to the education of a state 
does more than any other man to shape its destiny ; nor 
without reason was it said by Ernst Renan : '^ It is the 
German universities that have won the victory of 
Sadowa ! " and, again, four years later, in all the bitter- 
ness of defeat : " It is the German universities that have 
conquered us at Sedan." 

History, indeed, is revising its estimate of men and of 
things. It is learning that wars and military conquests, 
that the agitations and shifting successes of political 
parties — the themes on which it has lavished hitherto all 
its eloquence and all its gifts of portraiture — are often 
but effects or second causes, due in fact to the men of 
thought, who, in comparative quiet and obscurity, have 
wrought out and enunciated ideas and principles that 
have enlightened the minds and stirred the souls of men, 
impelling them on to social reform and national advance- 
ment. Therefore, it is bringing into more just promi- 
nence the interests, the agencies, and the actions that 
touch the inner life and the vital welfare of men ; the 
interior development, the industries, the religion, educa- 



10 

tion and culture, the literature and art, that make up 
the real life of nations. 

And thus the historian of our day assigns an 
eminent place to the men that have taken the lead in 
devising educational systems and in perfecting educa- 
tional methods. Socrates he thinks not less worthy of 
his pen than Pericles, Aristotle than Alexander, Quin- 
tilian than Vespasian. Alcuin and Erigena he puts side 
by side with Charlemagne and Alfred ; Erasmus, Luther, 
and Melancthon in his regard are more important than 
Leo X, Charles V, or Francis I. Such men as Ascham 
and Milton, Lord Bacon, Newton, and Bentley, Fichte, 
and Pestalozzi, Cousin, Guizot, and Arnold of Rugby, 
are characters more suggestive of advancing civilization 
than contemporary sovereigns and statesmen. Educa- 
tional statesmen, indeed, many of them have been. Such 
we may justly call Plato, Alcuin, Melancthon, Fichte, 
and Victor Cousin — all of them men who clearly saw 
the vital connection between education and the healthful 
growth of states ; while they had profound knowledge 
of the mind and of the conditions of its development ; 
studying as philosophers the relation of mind to the 
educational material, and the adaptation of discipline to 
the various stages of mental progress. 

And such an educational statesman and philosopher 
was he whose high worth we this day commemorate ; 
whose life and beneficent work, though deserving a far 
abler pen than mine, I have, nevertheless, by your 
request, and as a labor of love and duty, undertaken to 
describe. 

Henry Philip Tappan was born at Rhinebeck, on the 
Hudson, the 18th of April, 1805. This old Dutch town. 



11 

situated about a hundred miles, above the city of New 
York, had been settled by his ancestors, in company with 
other emigrants from Holland, in the early days of the 
colony of New Netherlands. His father was Major 
Peter Tappan, a descendant of the Tappins of Lorraine ; 
a family of Huguenots that had taken refuge in Holland 
at the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 
His mother was of the ancient family of the DeWitts 
of Holland. At the time of his birth the echoes of the 
revolutionary struggle had scarcely yet died away. The 
valley of the Hudson, the cradle of his childhood, was 
still alive with fresh reminiscences of heroic conflicts. 
From his father, who, in early manhood, had served as 
an officer at the siege of Yorktown, he inherited that 
love of country, that pride in its heroic struggle and 
glorious triumph, and that adoring reverence for Wash- 
ington, that lived in his heart fresh and undiminished to 
the latest hour of his life. Washington was to him the 
grandest personage in all history ; Washington he 
regarded with a sentiment akin to idolatry. 

In early youth he was called, not unfortunately indeed 
for him, to struggle with the hardships of straitened 
resources. His father, by an unfavorable turn in his 
affairs, was suddenly reduced from affluence to compara- 
tive want. Henry Philip was compelled, like many of 
the successful men of our land and of his own genera- 
tion, to win the means of his education by teaching. In 
other lands, the calling of the teacher is usually open 
to those alone who enter it as a profession ; with us, 
many eminent men have made this experience the first 
step to distinction. The young man who is necessitated, 
whether by this or any other occupation, to earn his own 



12 

support, and thus to become the " son of his own 
works," finds it in the end no misfortune to have been 
compelled to " endure hardness," and thus to have begun 
early that hand to hand fight with trial that develops 
the highest type of manhood. 

Being thus cast upon his own resources at the age of 
fourteen, by earnest effort he made his way, two years 
later, into Union College, where he took his first degree 
in 1825. 

Union College had been for twenty years under the 
presidency of Dr. Eliphalet Nott, who became, both on 
account of his long administration of sixty -tw^o years, 
and of his many admirable qualifications for the office, 
one of the most remarkable of college presidents The 
college was still young. It had been founded by the 
united efforts of the several leading denominations of 
Christians, and from this fact had received its title of 
Union, both as a symbol of its origin, and ol the spirit 
that was expected to control its teaching and discipline. 
Happily, Dr. Nott, its third president, was inspired with 
the same broad and liberal spirit that actuated its foun- 
ders. Under his administration Union sent forth many 
graduates who became distinguished in the professions 
and in public affairs ; men who owed to him not less 
their high aims, and their views of life and duty, than 
their habits of thought and investigation. But among 
all those who came forth from his moulding hand, there 
were three whom he regarded with peculiar affection and 
pride ; three so marked in character, and inheriting so 
many traits in common from their intellectual parent, 
that we mio-ht liken him and them to Nestor with his 
triple brood of heroic sons. 



13 

These three were Francis Wayland, Alonzo Potter, 
and Henry Philip Tappan. They were graduated suc- 
cessively within the period from 1813 to 1825. Wayland 
and Potter were officers of instruction when Tappan took 
his baccalaureate degree. All of them exhibited as 
students those gifts which, under the wise nurture of 
Dr. Nott and his faculty, paved the way for their future 
sticcess and reputation. Noble gifts, indeed, all of them 
had received from nature. Upon their very forms she 
had set the stamp of greatness. In the stature and 
splendid frame, the mien and countenance of each, there 
was that which at once attracted the attention and 
inspired respect. Once seen they were not easily for- 
gotten. 

Doctrina sed vim promovet insitam, 
Kectique cultus pectora roborant. 

In cast of mind they w^ere somewhat different. While 
all w^ere remarkable for mental grasp and penetration, 
the minds of all did not move with equal facility ; and 
in this respect there was a marked contrast between 
Wayland and Tappan. The one was slow and cautious, 
scrupulously turning every stone, advancing to his con- 
clusion, step by step, with, almost inevitable certainty. 
The other, not less sure in his generalizations, but impa- 
tient of detail, was quick in thought, and was aided 
rather than misled by a vivid imagination. In tempera- 
ment Wayland was serious and somewhat stern, and 
inclined to look at the dark side of human character, 
though this tendency w^as restrained or corrected by the 
grace of Christian charity and by a conscientious judg- 
ment. Tappan was of a warmer nature, judging men 
less severely, and seeing in life more of sunshine than of 



14 

shadow. In Bisliop Potter there was a disposition 
approaching less to either extreme, and a habit of thought 
more like that of Dr. Wayland ; while as a college lec- 
turer he excelled them both in the power of awakening 
interest and enthusiasm. In religious views, too, and 
church relations they were different. All were ordained 
as Christian ministers at an early age ; but Wayland as 
a Baptist, Potter as an Episcopalian, and Tappan as a 
Presbyterian. These three, also, became distinguished 
professors of philosophy, and authors of philosophical 
works ; all became eminent leaders in education, and 
active participants in the discussion of moral and social 
questions. Finally, Dr. Wayland and Dr. Tappan closed 
their life work as presidents of universities, and moved 
almost side by side i^ university reform ; while Dr. Pot- 
ter, holding for a time the office of vice-president of 
Union, was only prevented from succeeding to the presi- 
dency by his election to the bishopric of Pennsylvania. 
As to the result of their labors, who can place upon 
them any just estimate ? Who can measure the far- 
reaching influence of the thought, the truths, the prin- 
ciples, the doctrines, uttered by them in the class-room 
and on public occasions, or expressed in books and 
pamphlets ; gradually shaping opinion, until ideas which 
were in advance of the times, are now familiar maxims 
expressed in the action of organized societies or embodied 
in living institutions ? Who, indeed, can estimate the 
results of the teaching and the example of one great 
educator like Dr. Nott,- — especially when they come to 
the world through such disciples as these three noble 
sons of his mind and heart? And they always through 
life looked up to their venerable master with the simple 



15 

reverence and affection of children. In my last inter- 
view with Dr. Wayland, a short time before his sudden 
death, he said to me : " Be sure, on your return to Mich- 
igan, to stop and see Dr. Nott. It will do you good to 
talk with such a man. I do not know his equal. I owe 
everything to Dr. Nott." Thus did the veteran presi- 
dent of sixty-five speak of his old master now past the 
age of ninety. And he did but utter a feeling shared 
with all the other pupils of that distinguished educator. 

I love to dwell upon the memory of these truly great 
men. They come up before me as I have seen and 
heard them, towering forms of a generation past ; repre- 
sentatives of a class peculiar to the first half of this cen- 
tury, such as we shall scarcely see again ; not men of 
minute scholarship, accomplished exclusively in some 
special line of study, or acquainted with one aspect of 
some particular subject ; but at once broad and strong ; 
many-sided in learning and culture; well acquainted 
with affairs ; philosophical at once and practical ; lovers 
of science, but not isolated from the world ; profound 
in study, yet active in society. They were raised up by 
the times and for the times. 

On leaving Union Dr. Tappan entered the Theological 
Seminary at Auburn, and completing there his prepara- 
tion for the ministry in the usual course of three years, 
at the age of twenty-three was settled as pastor of 
the Congregational church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. 
Qn the eve of his ordination to this charge, he mar- 
ried Julia, the , daughter of Colonel John W. Living- 
ston, of Xew York; thus forming in the freshness of 
youth that bond of sacred and tender companionship 
which was destined throughout the journey of life to 



16 

enhance and sweeten the joys of prosperity, and to 
afford unspeakable comfort and solace in the inevitable 
days of trial. 

Though endowed with all the qualities that make an 
effective preacher, it was not in the ordering of Provi- 
dence that he should continue long in the sacred office. 
A bronchial affection, aggravated by the rough winters 
of Berkshire, compelled him at the end of three years 
to relinquish his pastorate, and to seek relief by a brief 
sojourn in the West Indies. Six months later, at the 
age of twenty-seven, he accepted the chair of Moral and 
Intellectual Philosophy in the new University of the 
City of New York, 

The acceptance of this chair was a turning point in 
his career. It brought him into practical contact as a 
teacher with university work. He had already become 
convinced that American colleges, as then conducted, 
not only failed to impart the higher education which 
they professed to give, but had drifted far behind the 
needs and demands of American society. He now 
became more fully alive to their deficiencies, and began 
to reflect upon the possibility of organizing in America 
an institution which should be a true university, afford- 
ing all the advantages of European universities, with 
their various faculties, their ample equipment of libra- 
ries and apparatus, and their high and liberal tone of 
study. 

For several years, while reflecting upon this problem, 
he devoted himself with earnest enthusiasm to philo- 
sophical investigation and teaching. But difficulties 
arose in the University of a nature that led the great 
body of the faculty to resign, and, among the rest, Dr. 



17 

Tappan. To him this respite, after years of university 
labor, was no disadvantage. It afforded him the oppor- 
tunity for writing those worlds on theology and philos- 
ophy by which he powerfully stimulated the thought 
^f his contemporaries, and won for himself a distin- 
guished place in the literature of his country and of 
his age. Without this he would indeed have become 
known as an eminent leader in education, but he would 
not have secured that permanent place in the history 
of thought and letters which is only reached by the 
authorship of books of solid merit. Gifted Avith a mind 
eminently philosophical, led by the influences around 
him in his collegiate and theological training, and still 
more in his experience as a teacher, to cultivate this bent 
of his genius, he had gathered up rich stores of learn- 
ing and of philosophical deduction. A writer whose 
mind is filled to overflowing with matter of which his 
heart, too, is full, can put his thoughts on paper with 
wonderful rapidity. He now brought forth from the 
rich granary of a well-stored mind those masterpieces 
of metaphysical thought which made a prof ound impres- 
sion on the philosophers and theologians of his genera- 
tion, Avhich breathed a spirit powerfully stimulating all 
kindred minds, and which soon made him favorably 
known, not only in his own land, but in all the learned 
circles of France, Germany, and Great Britain. 

First appeared his "Review of Edwards's Inquiry 
into the Freedom of the Will." This was published in 
1889. It was followed in 1840 by the volume on "The 
Doctrine of the Will Determined by an Appeal to Con- 
sciousness," and the next year b}^ " The Doctrine of the 
Will Applied to Moral Agency and Responsibility," 



18 

While preparing these treatises for the press, the author 
was also busy with those lines of metaphysical and psy- 
chological investigation that resulted in his admirable 
system of Logic published in 1844. 

All these productions are characterized by freshness, 
originality, and vigor ; all speak a mind candid and free, 
boldly questioning the dicta of past authorities, and 
fearlessly uttering its own convictions. For a century 
the famous argument of Edwards, maintaining the bond- 
age of the will, had been regarded as uncontroverted and 
incontrovertible. Not to accept his conclusions, not to 
embrace them implicitly in their whole compass, was to 
fall under suspicion of unsoundness in the faith. Now, 
a young doctor in the church, dependent for position on 
the vote of conservative boards, must take heed to his 
ways. Truth, conviction, candor, are all very well ; but 
policy, expediency, in a word, bread and butter, are 
present necessities. You may quietly hold opinions con- 
trary to the received authorities, but you are under no 
obligation to proclaim them at the sacrifice of present 
interest. You must suppress your too liberal and 
advanced ideas. Whatever you may think of the free- 
dom of the will, you must have no will of your own. 
You are fitted only for a peculiar kind of work, and 
therefore dependent. Publish your beliefs, and you will 
forfeit place and livelihood. All openings will be closed, 
your prospects blasted. But such admonitions were in 
vain. Conviction was mightier than expediency. "Blood 
Avill tell." He had in him the spirit of the banished 
Huguenots of Lorraine, and of the sturdy old De Witts 
of Holland; the spirit of true Protestantism that has 
been alive in the world from Stephen the Martyr to the 



19 



present day. Through life he was true to his convic- 
tions. He was fraiik and bold; he was incapable of 
dissimulation, he hated hypocrisy. But now there was 
added to this impulse of a nature quick to act out its 
convictions, his sense of duty to Christianity and to man. 
His motive is thus expressed by Vapereau, one of his 
French critics : " Misled at first by fatalistic doctrines, 
he now recognized their errors and dangers, and turned 
all his efEorts to refute them. Hence, his numerous 
writings on this subject." He felt that many of his 
Christkn brethren were crushed under a belief which 
differed, as he thought, but a shade from that of blind 
necessity and fate. He thought it a duty to promulgate 
the arguments which had emancipated his own spirit, 
and which might bring again the sunshine into other 
souls. Therefore, heedless of the cautions of friends as 
to probable harm to his worldly interests, he put forth 
these treatises on the will and on human responsibility. 
I need say nothing further as to their scope and character. 
I should not have space to enter into any analysis of 
them, even if I felt competent to the task. 

It is an interesting coincidence that Edwards in the 
ei<rhteenth century and his reviewer and opponent of a 
hundred years later, both made a strong impression on 
the European mind. Of both it was remarked, that 
they had only to devote their labors to the field of meta- 
physics to be reckoned amongst the foremost of writers 
on speculative philosophy. Of Dr. Tappan, the British 
Quarterly observed : " Tappan's valuable work on the 
will abundantly shows his capability of contributing 
lai-ely to the cultivation, to the real advancement of 
mental science, were he to limit his inquiries to psychol- 



20 

ogy." This opinion was justified by his treatise entitled 
^' Elements of Logic ; together with an Introductory 
View of Philosophy in General, and a Preliminary View 
of the Reason." The leading French philosopher of the 
century, Victor Cousiu, said of this book: "It is equal 
to any work on this subject that has appeared in Euro^^e." 
All the standard reviews of Great Britain and America 
received it with unqualified praise, and assigned to its 
author a place among the foremost of contemporary 
philosophers. In the conception of this treatise, as 
everywhere, he shows himself in advance of the existing 
educational methods, both in England and America. 
The subject is handled with a breadth of treatment 
adapted rather to advanced university work than to the 
ordinary and limited range of college recitations. And, 
no doubt, it was this broad method of treatment, starting 
from a clear and ample discussion of the psychological 
basis of dialectics, together w^th the freedom and fresh- 
ness of the style, everjnvhere exhibiting the genial spirit 
of one who is at once master of his subject, and in love 
with it, that attracted the attention of Cousin, and won 
the encomium of him whose verdict on such a question 
Avas more significant than that of any man living. The 
republication of these works in Scotland seventeen years 
after their first appearance, is an indication of the esteem 
in which they continued to be held abroad. Indeed, if 
genuine merit of thought and of literary form can guar- 
antee the memory of any author, the name of Henry 
Philip Tappan inscribed upon such monuments will not 
be lost or forgotten. 

It would be a mistake to suppose that Dr. Tappan was 
stimulated either in his literary enterprises or in his pro 



21 

fessional labors, by tlie mere motive of reputation or 
ambition. While he wo aid not have professed indiffer- 
ence to praise, and to those honorable titles, which mean 
most when they are unsought ; yet all who knew him well 
must have felt that his ruling motives were those of an 
earnest and enthusiastic spirit, eager to make known the 
truth, because it is truth, and because the world needs 
it. Academic honors, however, are sure to seek out such 
a man. In 1845, he received from his Alma Mater the 
degree of D. D., and from Columbia that of LL. D. in 
1853. More significant was his election as a Correspond- 
ing Member of the Institute of France. This rare honor, 
bestowed upon him in 1856, was probably due to the 
fact that the members of the Institute accepted the judg- 
ment and high estimate expressed by Cousin, as justly 
deserved. The interest felt by Victor Cousin in Dr- 
Tappan, led to a correspondence and finally to a personal 
intimacy which continued to the death of the former in 
1867. Their first interview, which occurred in 1851, is 
thus described in the words of Dr. Tappan : 

" There is an individual in Paris who forms one of 
these splendid examples, whom I felt desirous of seeing. 
I had on several occasions received friendly messages 
from him, and I had Ions: felt so strons; an admiration 
for his genius, and so genial a sympathy with the spirit 
of his writings, that I did not look upon myself as utterly 
a stranger to him. I refer to M. Victor Cousin. " - -'- 

" M. deTocqueville had informed me that he conversed 
only in French. My own powers of French conversa- 
tion being limited, I took my young daughter with me 
to act as an interpreter. I drove to the Sorbonne, and 



99 

sent up my name. M. Cousin received us in the ante- 
Toom in a most cordial manner. I told him I had brousrht 

CD 

my daughter to help us in our conversation. He 
•appeared delighted with the contrivance, seated us in 
two chairs in his library, side by side, and took another 
in front of us, and, grasping my hands between his, 
began to talk in that agreeable manner which is native 
to the French, and which in him has received all the 
grace of the highest cultivation. I understood his French 
generally well enough, and he appeared to understand 
ray English, for each talked in his own language, and 
when any misunderstanding occurred on either side, my 
daughter made the way smooth again. "^ * "^ * * 

^'He appeared to anticipate political difficulties, and 
spoke playfully, and yet, perhaps^ half in earnest, of 
being compelled to go to America. ^ But,' said he, 
smiling, ' how could I leave my books ? These are my 
wife and daughter.' 

" ^ Oh,' replied my daughter, ' my father will share 
his library with you.' At this his eye kindled, and he 
smiled with a grateful expression ; he seemed touched 
with the enthusiasm of a young heart. 

" I spent about two hours with him. I saw him once 
more when he called to bid me good-bye before I left for 
America." 

In 1851, appeared his treatise on University Education, 
the keynote of his subsequent publications and utter- 
ances on this subject; and in 1852, a book of travels 
entitled " A Step from the New World to the Old, and 
Back Again ; with Thoughts on the Good and Evil in 
Both," the fruit of his observations in his first European 



23 

tour. Among the sketches of European travel which 
crowd our book shelves, this is one of the best; and 
apart from the interest it has for the general reader, it is 
particularly attractive to those who have been acquainted 
with the author, as a work in which he gives free expres- 
sion to every thought and fancy, reminding us at every 
step of those traits of mind, of sentiment, and of imagina- 
tion so characteristic of the man. If any one desires to 
study a perfect mental portrait of Dr. Tappan, uncon- 
sciously sketched by his own hand, let him read this 
" Step from the Kew World to the Old." It is from this 
book that I have extracted the interview wdth Victor 
Cousin, above quoted. 

Before he made this first visit to Europe, he had added 
to his literary employments the charge of a seminary for 
young ladies. The pupils of this school, though not 
long under his instruction, received so much benefit from 
his careful and conscientious teaching, that he continued 
through life to receive expressions of their gratitude and 
esteem. He was deeply interested in the education and 
culture of young women ; but he was not in favor of 
the admission of women to colleges. This was the only 
idea of the times with which he was not in sympathy. 
Nor is this surprising. The great majority of college 
men in our country, and nearly the whole body of uni- 
versity men in Europe, were opposed to it. The objec- 
tion urged by him and all others, expressed in one word, 
was incoiiipatihility . College life, study, manners, dis- 
cipline, surroundings, all were thought inconsistent with 
the nature of woman and the requirements of woman's 
education. But the experiment now in actual operation 
in this and many other institutions, does not seem to 



24 

justify the fears with which it was regarded twenty 
years ago. Many who were earnestly opposed to the 
innovation have lived to be convinced that it is either 
harmless or a positive good. Whether Dr. Tappan 
would have been among these, had he retained his con- 
nection with the University, I cannot say; but this I know, 
that his objection to the admission of women was not 
the result of mere prejudice. It was based on a sincere 
belief that this innovation would be detrimental both to 
the interests of the University and of female education. 
Certainly, one who had devoted some of the best years 
and efforts of his life to the instruction of young women, 
could not have opposed their admission to colleges 
because of any lack of interest in their education and 
culture. 

Soon after his return from abroad in 1852 he was 
invited to resume his former chair of philosophy in the 
University of ISTew York, and the same year he was 
elected to the Presidency of the University of Michi- 
gan. This institution during the first ten years of its 
existence had been governed by a faculty without any 
permanent president, electing a chairman or temporary 
presiding officer from year to year. His name had been 
proposed to the Board of Regents by Mr. Bancroft. 
The considerations which induced him to prefer the pres- 
idency of this young University in the West to his old 
position in New York can be readily inferred from the 
views in regard to university reform expressed in the 
book which he had published on that subject, and in his 
later educational writings. 

He desired to take part in the creation of an Ameri- 
can university deserving of the name. In his examina- 



25 

tion of this subject lie had become satisfied that certain 
conditions were essential which could be best fulfilled 
in a new and rising commonwealth. A university, in 
the proper sense, could be built up only as an insepar- 
able part, and as a living member of a system of public 
education. This was evident, both from logical deduc- 
tion, and from the history and present state of European 
education. And the fact was corroborated by the 
acknowledged failure of American colleges hitherto to 
become universities. The university must rise from the 
successive stages of primary and secondary schools. 
Where these were not built up and permanently sus- 
tained the university was impossible. But these could 
be secured in completeness and perfection only by 
State authority, and by- State and municipal appropria- 
tions derived from public funds and public taxation. 
The university itself, also, with its several faculties, its 
buildings, its libraries and varied apparatus, was too 
vast and too constantly expanding to be maintained by 
any private corporation. If here and there some excep- 
tionally wealthy corporation had succeeded in establish- 
ing an ample institution of a high character, there was 
no guarantee that its courses of study and its discipline 
would constantly be those which the largest demands of 
the people and of the age required. Hence, no univer- 
sity of the highest character was found in Europe uncon- 
nected with a state or national system of education, and 
unsupported in part or in whole by the public funds. 
Oxford and Cambridge formed no exception, for they 
were universally admitted, even by leading educators of 
England, to have fallen lamentably short of the character 
of genuine universities. 



26 

But, if private corporations and denominational boards 
in this country could not in general sustain the expense 
of equipping and maintaining genuine universities, much 
less could they meet the expense of supporting, together 
with universities, a complete system of common and high 
school education, embracing a whole population, and 
providing for every branch of study. All Christian 
denominations united could not do this, even if union 
among them were possible; for they find great difficulty 
as a body in raising means for the adequate support of 
the Christian ministry, and the agencies necessary for 
building up Christianity in the world. How, then, could 
they, in addition to this, take upon themselves the bur- 
den of secular or popular education? If, indeed, secu- 
lar education were to be left by the State to the several 
Christian denominations, there would be not only thou- 
sands of starving ministers, as now, but thousands of 
starving schoolmasters. Then, again, the denominations 
in such a case, shaping their primary schools and their 
whole course of training according to their distinctive 
ideas, would leave a vast proportion of the community 
alienated and practically shut off from all education ; 
and thus the people, without a government system of 
education, would be degraded to the condition of ignor- 
ance and illiteracy of the masses of England at the 
beginning of the present century. Such a policy would, 
therefore, be suicidal to the State, and, in the end, to 
the Christian denominations themselves. 

In the eastern States, to which the attention of Dr. 
Tappan had been mainly directed hitherto, the desired 
conditions had not existed, and apparently could not be 
created. Those States had their common schools, but 



27 

no general and complete system embracing the univer- 
sity grade. And this could scarcely be hoped for, 
because the place of the university had been long pre- 
occupied by numerous colleges, with comparatively nar- 
row interests, isolated from the popular education, and 
each striving to build itself up independently of other 
institutions. In the East, therefore, and even in his 
favorite city of New York, he saw no encouraging 
prospect of realizing his ideal. Bat now, led by this 
•unlooked for invitation from Michigan, to examine the 
State University, its organization and its relation to the 
State system, he was inspired with new hope. He found 
in our Constitution and our legislative statutes provi- 
sions for public schools and for higher institutions, 
embracing the entire field of education. He found the 
Grerman or Prussian system held up to the people by 
the superintendents of public instruction as the most 
perfect model to be followed. He also found that little 
or nothing had been accomplished by private corpora- 
tions in occupying the ground which in a perfect State 
system JDelongs to a State University. Under these cir- 
cumstances he could not hesitate. He accepted the 
appointment, removed with his family to Ann Arbor in 
October of 1852, and delivered his inaugural as first 
President of the University in the following December. 
The feelings and aims with which he gave up long 
familiar serenes and intimacies, to enter upon his new 
and responsible charge are described by him in a pas- 
sage of his address before the University Christian 
Association, written a few years later: "When I received 
a call from the late Board of Kegents to take charge of 
this University, I felt as all men in middle life must 



28 

feel when called to break up long-cherislied associations, 
to forsake the home places of childhood, youth and 
manhood, to enter new regions, however glorious and 
beautiful they may be. I had been so long accustomed 
to see the sun rise from the Atlantic wave, and ^ scatter 
the east wind upon the earth,' that I recoiled from the 
thought of watching him in his noontide splendor look- 
ing down upon these vast lakes as upon ' a molten look- 
ing glass,' or of watching his setting over these unbro- 
ken prairies, as if wearily traveling to find his rest beyond 
the Rocky Mountains : and I had been so long accus- 
tomed on solstitial summer days, like this, to track the 
shadows upon the hills and mountains which embosom 
the Hudson, on whose enchanted banks I breathed the 
air of spring as my first taste of life, that it seemed to 
me I should lose alike my identity and all ^ local habita- 
tion ' amid these boundless plains and forests, and in 
this mighty, rushing tide of human life. Believe me, it 
was a painful decision for me to make to accept that 
call, although so honorable, and implying so much pub- 
lic trust. But I saw that I was called for no ordinary 
purpose, to enter upon no common work. A young, 
vigorous, free, enlightened and magnanimous people had 
laid the foundation of a State University; they were 
aiming to open for themselves one of the great fountains 
of civilization, of culture, of refinement, of true national 
grandeur and prosperity. While leveling the forests 
and turning up the furrows of the virgin soil to the sun- 
light, they would enter upon the race of knowledge^ 
and beautify, and refine their new homes with learning 
and the liberal arts. '" '^ ^' It was the charm of this 
high promise and expectation that drew me here. 



29 



' As a trust was reposed in me, so I came trustfully. 
If I had not something to bring, if I were not caiDable 
of doing something, why was I called ? wherefore should 
I presume to come ? No one should be called to such 
a work w^ho has not given pledges of competency ; no 
one should undertake it who is entirely dubious of him- 
self. I hold it as a fixed principle that a true man must 
know himself ; and that he who undertakes a public 
trust must have principles settled, methods defined, a 
course of action conceived of, a brave heart to govern, a 
ready and not unskillful hand.' " 

In accordance with these high aims and this brave 
confidence, he entered upon that work which we must 
regard as the special mission of his life. If his writings 
had won for him a distinguished position among the 
ranks of philosophers, and a fame that must survive in 
literature, the service he rendered in Michigan to the 
cause of the University and general education, has given 
him a high place among those whose ideas are embodied 
and ever abiding and growing in living institutions. 
This University, whatever may be its progress towards 
the highest development, whatever amplitude it may 
attain in the variety of its departments or the diversity 
of its learning, will always represent, and can never go 
beyond the ideal held out before it by the first presi- 
dent. 

If any odc imagine this to be the language of fond 
panegyric, let him carefully peruse the educational writ- 
ings of Dr. Tappan, beginning with the volume on Uni- 
versity Education, which I have before mentioned, and 
embracing the various reports and addresses of which 
his pen ^^^as so fruitful during his administration. Those 



30 

who remember his frequent extemporary addresses on 
this favorite theme, will be still more impressed with the 
justice of my eulogium. 

Among these various papers I would single out espe- 
cially the President's first annual report to the Board of 
Regents made in 1853, his address before the literary 
societies in 1855, and his address before the Christian 
Association, in 1858. In these will be found distinctly 
presented and ably discussed his plans and views as to 
the progress of the University. ISo gi eater service 
could be rendered at the present moment to the inter- 
ests of education both in this State and in the country 
at large than the publication of the passages of these 
important documents that relate immediately to this 
subject ; and I have often wished that such a compila- 
tion of Dr. Tappan's addresses and reports might be 
issued from the office of the Superintendent of Public 
Instruction. 

It is necessary here to state only in substance the 
leading ideas of what I may call his university policy : 

1. The grand object in view is the development of the 
infant institution already organized with its two depart- 
ments, one of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the other 
of Medicine, into the genuine university contemplated 
by the pioneer statesmen of Michigan, and by the State 
Constitution itself; ''a university worthy of the name, 
with a capacity adequate to our wants, receiving a 
development commensurate with the growth of all things 
around us, doing a work which shall be heartily acknow- 
ledged by the present generation, and reaching with 
increasing power through the generations to come."* 

* Report of 1851. 



31 

Such an institution contemplates nothing less than the 
whole sphere of higher education embraced by the great 
continental universities of Europe, and especially by 
those of Germany, with their ample equipment of books 
and apparatus, and all the Faculties, excepting that of 
Theology. 

2. The first condition of success is the proper selection 
of the professors. Every chair must be filled by a man 
of exceptional talent and of thorough learning ; perfect 
master of his branch of instruction, and prepared to 
bring forth in his lectures the results of reading and 
original research. He must be the very best man of his 
specialty that can be found; therefore, chosen without 
any reference to political or church relations, or personal 
favoritism ; not a picked up man, but a picked out man. 
Without severe adherence to this principle the University 
cannot be the authority and the standard in learning 
which the Constitution designed it to be as the head of 
the State system. 

3. There must be ultimately one common standard of 
attainment as the condition of entering all departments, 
whether professional or literary. This alone can secure 
the high level of education which all must aim at, and 
at the same time create any real internal unity. On this 
condition alone can the professional schools cease to be, 
as at present, in American universities, mere loose appen- 
dao-es to the institution, and not forming with it a genuine 
university organism. 

4. But this object cannot be accomplished in a day. 
Present conditions and necessities must be accepted, and 
every movement in the transformation must be made 
without haste or violence. Therefore, 



32 

5. The present collegiate or gymnasial organization in 
the literary department, with its fixed course of four 
years, with its schoolmaster methods and discipline and 
state of pupilage, must be for a time retained ; but its 
work must be gradually transferred to the high schools 
or to newly- created intermediate schools, or gymnasia, 
where such work properly belongs. Meanwhile, univer- 
sity methods, university lectures, free and manly habits 
of study and investigation must be gradually worked 
into the courses. At the same time, in the professional 
departments the attainments required both for admission 
and for graduation must constantly be advanced, until 
all departments shall be equal in respect to discipline 
and learning, and all equally honorable to the institu- 
tion. 

6. But all this presupposes and involves constant pro- 
gress in the common and high schools towards that per- 
fection without which the University itself cannot be 
perfect ; while, reciprocally, the lower schools themselves 
are acted upon and elevated by the influence of the 
University : so completely do the three grades mutually 
depend and react upon each other. 

European governments which recognize the principle 
of Church and State find little or no embarrassment in 
maintaining theological faculties by the side of the oth- 
ers which go to make up their great national universi- 
ties ; but an American State university, under a govern- 
ment which cannot discriminate in favor of any one 
among the numerous Christian denominations into which 
its citizens are divided, must leave the religious commu- 
nity itself to provide for the theological training of the 
sacred ministry. Therefore, the President earnestly 



33 

cherished, and often expressed the hope, that at an early- 
day the denominations, each for itself, would see the 
wisdom of establishing at Ann Arbor theological schools 
which should enjoy all the advantages of association 
with the University ; free access to its libraries, its class 
rooms, its lectures, and to all its privileges; while such 
schools could not fail to create around themselves a reli- 
gious atmosphere, and thus aid in making the chief 
educational institution of the State a centre of Cliristian 
as well as of intellectual culture. 

The plans of the new President, so far reaching and 
so far in advance of the times, involved in the end the 
necessity of large financial resources, and, also, on the 
educational side, constant and sure progress in the other 
two divisions of the educational system , namely, the 
common school and the high school grades. There- 
fore, the President constantly urged the necessity of 
keeping before the public the great interests of the 
University and the local schools of the State, as form- 
ing vital members of one body, all of which must 
either thrive or perish together. Therefore, he urged 
upon our legislators the policy as well as the duty of 
being generous to the University, in common with all 
other State institutions of learning. And to the build- 
ing up of the University and the whole system of State 
education, in accordance with these broad and enlight- 
ened plans, he devoted the years of his administration, 
and was ready to devote all the years of his life. 

He did not claim that all these ideas were original 
with him. As I have before said, he had learned that 
the way had been already wisely and well prepared 
before his coming ; that something analogous to the sys- 



34 

tern of Prussia had already been established, at least in 
form, by the constitu«fcion and legislation of Michigan. 
And no one more than he esteemed and honored that 
wise and good man, the Hon. John D. Pierce, our first 
Superintendent of Public Instruction, who first con- 
ceived and outlined in legislation the educational work 
of the State ; and who, within the last few months, has 
followed to the grave the first President of that Univer- 
sity to which he himself had given its original form and 
designation. Well does he deserve to be held in grate- 
ful remembrance by every citizen of Michigan, and by 
every alumnus of the University. 

One of the first acts of the President was to do away 
with the traditional mode of college life called "the 
dormitory system." This system had been hitherto one 
of the characteristic features of American universities. 
A row or a cluster of rectangular buildings, partitioned 
into sleeping apartments for students, with incidental 
recitation-rooms, was the first essential of a college or a 
so-called university. Faculties, men, well-stored brains, 
libraries, laboratories, were the second, if not a second- 
ary, consideration. The University of Michigan during 
its first decade had followed the old custom. But the 
President, looking forward to the great numbers that in 
the course of time would probably be assembled here, 
thought it impracticable and absurd to undertake, with 
the funds which would be needed for the legitimate 
purposes of education, to build apartments for a thou- 
sand or two thousand, or, it may be, three or four thou- 
sand sleepers. He, therefore, seized the early moment, 
before the expensive evil should be fastened and entailed 
upon the institution, to convert the dormitories already 



85 

built, into mucli needed lecture rooms, class rooms, and 
museums. In European towns, whether large or small, 
wherever universities existed, private lodgings had 
always been found more than sufficient to meet the 
demand. Here, too, in Ann Arbor, the common law of 
^' demand and supply " could not fail to hold good. 

The wisdom of this measure has been fully justified by 
the result. It has proved that the expenditure of the 
public funds for dormitory buildings is not demanded 
by any real want ; it has saved the University from use- 
less outlays, which would have largely exhausted its 
income, and it has obviated the necessity of calling 
upon the State for any appropriations except those 
needed for purely educational purposes. But, while it 
shut off a source of financial embarrassment which would 
have been ever increasing and never ending, it secured, 
at the same time, in the judgment of the President, a 
great advantage in the life and morals of the students. 
'^ The dormitory system," says he, " is objectionable in 
itself. By withdrawing young men from the influence 
of domestic circles, and separating them from the com- 
munity, they are often led to contract evil habits, and 
are prone to fall into disorderly conduct. The difficul- 
ties of maintaining discipline are greatly increased. It 
is a mere remnant of the monkish cloisters of the middle 
ages, still retained in England, indeed, but banished 
from the universities of Germany." 

While moving safely and patiently towards the con- 
summation of his broad university plan, President Tap- 
pan aimed to enlarge and liberalize the existing Collegi- 
ate or " Literary Department." He carried into imme- 
diate effect a recent enactment of the Legislature, by 



36 

establishing courses of study parallel to those of the 
old curriculum, either not requiring the ancient classics, 
or leaving to students their individual preferences among 
all branches taught in the institution. These were the 
so-called " Scientific " and " Optional Courses " — looked 
upon with suspicion, or met with decided opposition on 
the part of old-fashioned college men. It was, indeed, 
an innovation ; but, says Dr. Tappan, '^ It is the part of 
wise men neither to court innovation through a love of 
novelty, nor to shun it through a fear of the imputation 
of fickleness ; but to be always alive to the claims of 
rational progress." 

At the same time were established, as the beginning 
of technical and practical schools, a Department of 
Engineering and a Chemical Laboratory. Then, too, the 
new and lively interest awakened in behalf of the Uni- 
versity, led the citizens of Detroit to place in the hands 
■of the President the means of erecting our astronomical 
observatory. This important department of the Uni- 
versity, soon completed, and named, in honor of the 
donors, " The Detroit Observatory," has more than ful- 
filled the sanguine hopes expressed by the President of 
its success. Under the direction of the eminent astron- 
omers Briinnow and Watson, it has become distinguished 
amongst the foremost institutions of its kind. 

And now, I need not tell you with what hopeful 
enthusiasm the President pursued his task ; how his 
generous aims were seconded by the Regents, the Facul- 
ties, and the citizens ; how students from the State and 
from abroad began to flock to our halls ; how new 
departments were added, facilities multiplied ; how, 
indeed, all his hopes and prophecies were in rapid pro- 



37 

cess of fulfilment. Nor need I remind you who were 
students in his time, what kindness mingled with deci- 
sion, what gentleness and candor, what parental love 
and sympathy, marked all his intercourse with those 
under his charge. And you easily recall with me his 
noble and dignified appearance on public occasions. 
How impressive was his eloquence ! — like his mind? 
broad, profound, and clear. He wrote and spoke as one 
who stands above and looks down into his subject, com- 
prehending with clear vision its whole compass and 
every detail. 

His sentences moved on with the unerring certainty, 
and the definiteness of form that characterize a mind 
seeing the end from the beginning. It was especially in 
extempore speech, and when moved as only powerful 
natures can be moved, that he made his grandest appeals 
to conviction and feeling. It was all the inspiration of 
the moment, but it was masterly in style as well as 
mighty in sentiment. You will readily recall those 
brief addresses with which he was accustomed to close 
the exercises of the commencement. As he stood on the 
platform, looking down into the faces that had become 
familiar, feeling that many of them he never should 
behold again, the thought of the risks and the uncertain 
destinies of these young lives, stirred his soul to its 
inmost depths. Then came warm from his heart those 
words of love, of wisdom, of encouragement, and of 
tender admonition that can never be forgotten. 

And so were the rich endowments which nature had 
lavished upon this man, his commanding form and pres 
ence, his mind at once logical and imaginative, his spirit 
at once bold and gentle, perfected and crowned by this 



38 

gift of lofty eloquence. And the University was always 
proud to be represented by such a head, whether at 
home or abroad. 

The prosperity of the University, its increasing 
strength and numbers, were for a time affected by the 
war of secession. Many of our brightest sons perished 
on the field or in the hospitals ; our departments and 
our classes were more than decimated. We all bitterly 
mourned the sacrifice, though proud of the heroic dead. 
No citizen was more fully alive than President Tappan 
to the importance of a vigorous prosecution of the war. 
This feeling was that which was to be expected in the 
son of a revolutionary patriot, and in one who had grown 
up near the homes of the Schuylers, the Herkimers, 
and the Clintons. He believed that the war should be 
unmixed with compromise, unhindered by discussion ; 
that war alone should occupy the thoughts and concen- 
trate the energies of the people ; that war, and war 
alone, should decide once and forever the great question 
at issue. His views are expressed in the following 
extracts from an address on the national affairs prepared 
by the request of the students of the Law Department, 
and read before them in January, 1862 : ^' We have six 
hundred thousand men in the field and our business is 
to lead them to victory. ***** The discus- 
sion of political, philosophical, or moral principles, now, 
has no bearing upon the work in hand. We are in 
the midst of a war which leaves us no alternative but 
brave fighting, or ignominious and fatal submission. 

" In times of peace, our principles, our politics, our fan 
aticisms may jostle each other, but in this time of w^ar — 
standing as we do upon the fiery edge of battle — we 



39- 

stand shoulder to shoulder for the republic. We ask not 
now what is your nationality, what is your creed, what 
is your party. We ask only, what is your banner — are 
you for the Stars and Stripes 2 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Let us 
carry our banner victoriously from the Upper Lakes to 
the Gulf of Mexico, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
This is the work in hand — a work large enough to 
occupy all our powers, a work majestic and catholic 
enough to sink all our political differences, a work whose 
imperious necessities must melt us into one heroic peo- 
ple sworn to conquer or to die. ^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 

^' All our difficulties arise from discussing opinions and 
institutions existing in the enemy's country, and attempt- 
ing to frame a policy to meet them, when our proper 
business is to fight that we may win. Victory solves a 
thousand problems in a moment, while speculation is 
stumbling among the dark mountains of fear and uncer- 
tainty. 

"When we have reconquered territories violently 
wrested from us, when we have prostrated the rebel- 
lious and thrown our protection around the loyal, then 
will arise the question upon what basis shall the Union 
be restored, and what measures shall be adopted for the 
future and permanent security of the republic. We 
will wait for the harvest time to gather the fruits of 
our present labors and sacrifices. !Now^ is the time for 
labors and sacrifices only. 

"We are managing the ship of state in the midst of a 
stormy and perilous sea. We are placed, some at the 
helm to steer, some at the bow to look out, some along 
the deck to manage the sails, some at the pumps to con- 
trol the leak. Let every man do his duty. We have 



40 

but one thing in view now ; no one can mistake it ; that 
one thing involves all that is dear to us in life, and is of 
such awful moment, of such urgent necessity, that we 
cannot pause to deliberate, much less to indulge in 
words — we can think and speak only in action. Forget 
everything else and save the ship.'^ 

The unhappy circumstance which brought an end to 
an administration begun so auspiciously, conducted with 
such ability, and attended with such grand results, will 
never cease to be a source of painful regret. It is in 
the very nature of great qualities — of moral force and 
brave purposes, to call forth resistance. Thus the work 
of strong men is sometimes shortened; though, thank 
God, their ideas are not limited, "and their works do 
follow them." How happy should we have been to-day, 
could we have been permitted to announce to him that 
one of his great ideas, indeed, the controlling idea of all, 
after twenty -nine years of waiting, has been embodied 
in action ! that the freedom of study, the university lec- 
tures, in short, that broad university plan, which he 
projected and longed to see in operation, has been act- 
ually established and announced to the world. 

Amid all the controversy and the passion of the hour, 
no one ever questioned the greatness of his mind or the 
solidity of his reputation ; the wisdom of his educational 
plans, or the high merit of his educational achievement. 
But it was not in his nature to temporize. At once, 
with all that were dearest to him, in the autumn of 1863, 
he bade farewell to the State and the country. He 
sought forgetf ulness of the past, solace and repose, among 
the familiar friends and amidst the familiar scenes of the 
old world. In Berlin, in Paris, in Bonn, in Frankfort, 



41 

in Basle and Geneva, he found those who gladly wel- 
comed to their literary and cultivated circles one who 
had already become familiar to them both in person and 
in his contributions to thought and to letters. Such 
society, together with the intellectual treasures of Euro- 
pean libraries, and the whole world of European art, 
were exhaustless sources of interest, of profit, and of the 
most exalted pleasure. Then, too, there was the loveli- 
ness of nature tempting his steps now to the lakes and 
glaciers of Switzerland, or to the fir-clad hills of the 
Black Forest ; now to the sunny slopes of Italy and the 
margin of the blue Mediterranean. Often had I heard 
him express the wish to spend the evening of his days, 
if possible, where he could be surrounded with all that 
was beautiful in nature, and all that was perfect in 
civilization. Let us hope that this last period of his 
life, passed amidst scenes, associations and intellectual 
resources so consonant with his desires, brought to him 
all that blissful repose to which he had looked forward 
in those earlier days. 

These last years, indeed, were clouded with one great 
sorrow. He was called upon to mourn the death of his 
only son, John L. Tappan, for several years librarian of 
this University, and remembered by the older members 
of the Faculty, and the alumni of the earlier days, as an 
amiable and courteous gentleman. The shock fell the 
more heavily as his death occurred suddenly, and in 
the midst of strangers, when he was on his way from 
Paris to the home of the family, at that time residing 
near Frankfort. The earnest sympathy of their friends, 
both in Europe and at home, could do but little to 
relieve this heavy blow. Only the healing hand of time 



42 

and an unwavering trust in God could bring back to 
the stricken souls their wonted cheerfulness. 

And now our thoughts follow the venerable President 
to that lovely spot, one of the most lovely in all Switzer- 
land where he took up his final residence. Ten years 
before, in his book of travels, he had pictured this part of 
Lake Leman. Let his words describe it now: "One of 
our apartments overlooked the lake. The following 
morning was clear and bright. I arose and went to the 
window, and threw open the shutter. What a scene 
burst upon my eyes ! Was it enchantment, or was it 
reality ! Was it earth or heaven ! I can never forget 
that moment; neither can I describe my feelings. The 
beautiful lake lay beneath me. Directly opposite, on 
the further shore, arose, as from the water's edge, a wall 
of mountains ; and mountain rose behind mountain, and 
over the whole was the delicate haze of the morning like 
a transparent veil. I looked down the lake towards Cha- 
mouni, and in the distance there was nothing but clouds. 
I turned towards the head of the lake, and the ice moun- 
tains of Savoy were glittering beneath the morning sun. 
So clear was the atmosphere, and so huge the masses, 
that they appeared just at hand. The ice mountains ! 
Now I saw them for the first time. The ice mountains 
piled up far above all earthly things in the clear heavens ! 
I gazed in silence. Then I turned away and walked 
about the room instinctively, to collect my thoughts, and 
arouse myself from the stupefaction of wonder. I went 
back to the window — there they were still. How glo- 
rious ! how beautiful ! how pure ! — there was no stain 
upon them. How deep the consciousness that I pos- 
sessed a soul, and thought, and feeling ! I seemed to 



48 

spread myself over them, to embrace them — to become 
one with them. God is great ; the soul of man is great. 
O Almighty Spirit ! we are Thy work, made after Thine 
image ; and here without are Thy stupendous works ; 
the heavens are Thine — Thou hast garnished them ; the 
earth is Thine; these everlasting mountains are Thine; 
we see Thee in Thy works — we feel the glory of Thy 
presence." 

It was in the midst of all this grandeur and beauty, 
where nature has done her utmost to create a paradise 
for man, in the ancient town of Vevey, near the head of 
Lake Geneva, cradled in the mountains, sheltered from 
the wintry winds, where roses bloom to the end of 
November, that about three years ago Dr. Tappan pur- 
chased the sweet villa of Beauval. Here a well built 
and comfortable mansion, ample lawns, groves and ave- 
nues of noble trees, charming shrubbery and flowers, on 
the very banks of the lake, with the Alps and the Dent- 
de-Midi looking down from the opposite side, promised 
all of delightful retirement and of happy tranquility 
that earth can give. And here his days were gliding 
smoothly along, when he received the news of the death 
of his old and ch.erished friend, the venerable Professor 
Williams. His answer to my letter conveying this sad 
intelligence, Mrs. Briinnow now informs me, was the 
last he ever wrote. That part of it which is not per- 
sonal, I cannot forljear to read : '^ A few days since I 
received yours of the 25th inst., informing me of the 
death of Dr. Williams. I had already read an announce- 
ment of it in a Detroit paper. Upon this came the 
news of the death of President Garfield. How different 
the impression produced upon my mind by the two 



44 

events ! President Garfield in the ripeness of his pow- 
ers, in the vigorous health of middle age, in the zenith 
of usefulness and influence, the chosen and beloved 
ruler of a great nation, falls as by the accidental sting 
of a serpent. It is hard to collect consolation for an 
event so untoward, so sad and terrible, and to our short- 
sighted vision, so unnecessary. Dr. Williams, on the 
contrary, had completed his honorable, pure, and useful 
life, and, as a shock fully ripe, is gathered into the heav- 
enly garner. I am not surprised and startled by his 
death. I had heard of his increasing feebleness, and I 
knew that the end could not be far distant. We all 
contemplate this event with abundant consolation, with 
a sad and sweet tenderness, and with the light of faith 
and hope about us, like the glow of the setting sun. Dr. 
Williams was, as you say, a Christ-like man. He was a 
genuine Christian, and a true gentleman, and in all my 
intercourse with him, I never knew him to deviate from 
the principles of the first, or to do anything unworthy 
of the urbanities and manliness of the second. I shall 
always cherish his memory." 

About seven weeks after this letter was written, came 
the startling announcement of his own sudden depart- 
ure. Little did we think that he was so soon to follow 
the aged friend whom he, with us, so honored and loved. 
On the 15th of November last, after a brief illness, at 
first not alarming, but which proved to be paralysis of 
the heart, that noble spirit passed away. At his bed- 
side were all his loved ones ; the dear and honored com- 
panion of his joys and sorrows ; the daughter who here 
grew up to young womanhood, who in married life had 
scarcely been separated from the parental home ; his 



45 

son-in-law, Dr. Briinnow, who had been with him 
from the beginning of his labors at this University; 
and his grandson, Rudolph Briinnow, born in Ann 
Arbor, and now a student of Strasburg — all these 
were gathered around the dying man to receive his 
last look and his last blessing. In the serene confidence 
of a Christian faith, in peace with God, in charity with 
the world, he passed away to his eternal rest. And 
now all that remains of that form, to us so familiar, 
reposes near the far off banks of Leman, by the side of 
many others from foreign lands, who have like him 
sought in that sweet vale a quiet home for the evening 
of life. And many of those who looked up to him as a 
friend and father, while rambling hereafter through the 
valleys of Switzerland, will turn their steps to that last 
resting place, and gaze with sad interest on that hon- 
ored grave. Many, too, will seek the pleasant mansion 
of Beauval, and offer to the bereaved survivors the sym- 
pathy of grateful and loving hearts. And this sym- 
pathy I know that all who hear me, feel, and most earn- 
estly would express even through these words of mine. 
May ^'He who never willingly afflicts or grieves the 
children of men," visit their hearts with the strong con- 
solation that He alone can give. 

Thus lived and thus died Henry Philip Tappan, one 
of the most gifted men of our times ; the Christian phil- 
osopher, the friend of Cousin, the lover of Pla,to ; a cul- 
tivated scholar, a great educational leader; the first 
President of this University, and its true founder ; whose 
work and memory are inseparable from its history ; 
whose name shall live and be honored as long as the 
State and the University shall endure. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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